Rock throwing incident hospitalizes woman, sprays kids with glass

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COLUMBIA - Columbia police said Monday morning they've arrested a man who they said threw a rock through the windshield of a moving vehicle on Stadium Boulevard around 5 p.m. Saturday, spraying five children in the car with glass shards and sending one passenger to the hospital. The driver said he and his fiancee were in the vehicle with their five children.

Police said 23-year-old Jeffery Hartley of Columbia was walking westbound along Stadium Boulevard near West Boulevard when he started smashing the windows out of several parked cars with large rocks. Police estimated Hartley smashed out the windshields of three parked cars and the back windshield of another.

The report said Hartley eventually started throwing rocks at moving vehicles driving eastbound on Stadium Boulevard, including a vehicle with seven victims inside. Police said Hartley threw a rock through their windshield, spraying a female passenger and five children with glass shards. According to the report, the rock hit the female passenger in the face and ambulances took her to the hospital with a head injury.

The report also said Hartley threw another rock at a second moving vehicle, damaging the hood and the windshield, but that rock didn't cause any injuries.

Officers arrested Hartley on charges including five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, six counts of first-degree property damage and second-degree assault.

Below is a photo of the damage:

[Editor's note: This story has been edited to correct grammar errors.]